This collection documents the history, administration, and activities of the Faculty Women’s Club at South Dakota State University from its founding in 1917 through its evolution into the SDSU Club in the late 1990s. The records provide comprehensive insight into the organization’s efforts to foster community among faculty women, support students through scholarships and loans, and contribute to both campus and civic life.
Materials in the collection include constitutions (and proposed revisions), minutes, president’s reports, newsletters (The Grapevine), directories, clippings, financial records—including a loan fund ledger—programs, photographs, and scholarship information. These documents reflect the club’s governance structure, its broad range of social and educational programming, and its fundraising efforts for student support. The collection also includes flyers, calendars of events, and publicity materials for faculty receptions, teas, luncheons, and scholarship benefit events such as style shows. Records of interest groups (e.g., antique group, horticulture, gourmet cooking) and projects such as the Campanile restoration and support for the Memorial Art Center are also present.
The collection holds several club histories and includes documentation of the auxiliary Newcomers Club, which welcomed new faculty families. This includes a separate history, meeting minutes, and materials such as newsletters and artifacts (e.g., rubber stamps and a gavel). Artifacts from the Faculty Women’s Club itself include a gavel and official stamps used for communication.
Of particular note is material from the club’s 75th anniversary in 1993, which included a style show highlighting the club’s history. A script and video recording of the event are included.
The collection also contains records from the SDSU Club beginning in 1998, including brochures, posters, and invitations that document its continuation of social and academic support programming with expanded, coeducational membership.
These records are a resource for understanding the changing role of women in higher education, the development of faculty social networks, and student support services at South Dakota State University throughout the 20th century.
South Dakota State University. Faculty Women's Club